Before us is Mishnah 4 in chapter 12 of Maseches Menachos. The Mishnah comes to discuss the question: what is the largest minchah a person may bring, and how many esronim of fine flour may it contain? The answer familiar to us is that sixty esronim is the maximum, and the basis of this halachah lies in the dispute among the Tannaim in our Mishnah.
The view of the Tanna Kamma - learning from the community:
According to the Tanna Kamma, sixty is the upper limit, and the source for this is the day on which the community brings the largest quantity of fine flour in menachos: the first Yom Tov of Sukkos that falls on Shabbos. The total fine flour brought in the menachos of the nesachim that accompany the offerings of that day comes to sixty-one esronim. From here the Tanna Kamma learned: if sixty-one is the measure of the community, it is enough for an individual to be one less than the community - and therefore sixty is the maximum.
The view of Rabbi Shimon - the limit of mixing:
Rabbi Shimon disagrees and argues that there is no logic in this. True, a total of sixty-one esronim is brought on that day, but what is the meaning of such a combination? They are not joined into a single minchah; rather these are many separate menachos. Moreover, even had they wished to, they could not have combined them, since the texture of the minchas nesachim that comes with a sheep is far oilier than that which comes with a bull or a ram. Consequently, the fact that they happen to add up to sixty-one is entirely irrelevant.
According to Rabbi Shimon, the true reason is different: if one puts more than sixty esronim in a single vessel, it is impossible to mix them properly with oil. True, the mixing is not indispensable after the fact, and even if he did not mix them properly the minchah is valid, but it must be possible to prepare the minchah properly if enough effort were invested. Above sixty, the thing is impossible. And all of this the Chachamim determined: they examined and clarified what is the maximum amount that can be mixed with great effort, and they ruled decisively - sixty yes, sixty-one no.
The Chachamim respond to this: is this an all-or-nothing matter? The mixing becomes harder and harder gradually, and if at sixty it is possible with great effort, could it be that at sixty-one it suddenly becomes impossible? Rabbi Shimon answers: indeed that is how it works, and we are speaking here of a limit set by the Torah. It is the Torah that set the limit at sixty, and it is the Torah that authorized the Chachamim to carry out the investigation and fix the measure; and once the Chachamim drove in the stake and said sixty, this is a measure d'Oraisa and not a measure d'Rabbanan - a Torah measure that was determined and ratified by the Chachamim, or that the Torah ratifies their determination.
And in truth this parallels another law, as Rabbi Shimon says: the laws of the mikvah. The Torah requires immersion in a mikvah, and it is understood that the mikvah must be large enough for an ordinary person to immerse in it. The Chachamim calculated and found that the measure is an amah by an amah at a height of three amos, which comes to forty se'ah (a se'ah is about six two-liter bottles, and the calculation comes to about four hundred and eighty liters; this is not entirely precise halachically, but it makes no difference for our purposes). And even though a small person, or one who contracts himself and holds his breath, could immerse even in thirty-nine and nine tenths - the Chachamim said forty, and forty is the limit on the level of a derashah and not on the level of a rabbinic decree: one who immerses in a mikvah of thirty-nine and nine tenths se'ah has not fulfilled his obligation d'Oraisa, even after the fact.
The same applies to the limit of sixty in the minchah: the Chachamim said that sixty can be mixed properly and sixty-one cannot, and therefore one may not exceed sixty under any circumstances. This is the view of Rabbi Shimon, and the halachah in practice is ruled like him.
Let us examine the language of the Mishnah:
"Misnadev adam minchah shel shishim isaron" - a person may vow and bring a minchah of sixty esronim of fine flour.
"U'meivi bichli echad" - and he brings it in a single vessel, and one kemitzah is taken from it.
"Im amar harei alai shishim v'echad" - if he vowed to bring a minchah of sixty-one esronim, "meivi shishim bichli echad v'echad bichli echad" - he has no choice but to split it into two separate menachos: sixty in the first vessel with one kometz, and one issaron in the second vessel.
"Sheken tzibbur meivi b'yom tov harishon shel chag shechal lihyos b'Shabbos" - this is the day on which the community brings the largest measure: sixty-one esronim in all the menachos of the nesachim. "V'dayah l'yachid sheyehei pachos min hatzibbur echad" - it is enough for an individual to be one measure less than the community. This is the view of the Tanna Kamma.
The calculation of the sixty-one esronim:
Every olah and shelamim is accompanied by a meal offering with libations according to the type of animal: a bull - three esronim of fine flour, a ram - two esronim, a sheep - one issaron. On the first day of Sukkos the largest number of bulls is brought (thirteen on the first day, twelve on the second, and so on), and the calculation comes out as follows:
Thirteen bulls, three esronim each - thirty-nine esronim.
Two rams, two esronim each - four esronim, for a total of forty-three.
Fourteen sheep of the festival offerings, an issaron each - for a total of fifty-seven.
The Shabbos Musaf - two additional sheep, for a total of fifty-nine.
The morning tamid and the afternoon tamid, brought every day - two sheep, for a total of sixty-one.
Rabbi Shimon's words in the Mishnah:
Rabbi Shimon said: "Vahalo eilu lefarim ve'eilu lakevasim" - what is the point of combining them into sixty-one? This meal offering belongs to a bull, and that one to the sheep, and there are separate meal offerings for the rams as well. "Ve'einam nivlalim zeh bazeh" - they are not meant to be mixed together, and if one were to do so they would be disqualified even after the fact, since the meal offerings of the sheep are far oilier than those of the bull and the ram. "Ela ad shishim yecholim lehibalel" - the Sages measured and determined that up to sixty it is possible to mix well with oil, and with sixty-one it is impossible.
The Sages said to him: "Shishim nivlalim veshishim ve'echad ein nivlalim?" - is the difference between sixty and sixty-one really so great? He said to them: "Kol midos chachamim kein" - this is the way of the Sages everywhere: they draw a line, and that is the line. It is like the case of the mikvah: with forty se'ah a person immerses a valid immersion, and with forty se'ah less a kortov he cannot immerse in it. And even if you object: is it really so that with forty yes and with thirty-nine and nine tenths no? The answer is that indeed it is so. One who immerses in forty fulfills his obligation on a Torah level, and one who immerses in thirty-nine and nine tenths does not fulfill it even after the fact.
What is a kortov?
The kortov is the smallest of the liquid measures, and there are two views as to its size: one sixteenth of a log, or one sixty-fourth of a log. If we assume that a log is about five hundred cubic centimeters, then according to the first view a kortov is about thirty cubic centimeters - an ounce; and according to the second view less than ten cubic centimeters - the size of a teaspoon.
The second section: wine libation on its own:
Up to here is the first section of the Mishnah, where the halachah follows Rabbi Shimon. The second section deals with an entirely new topic (and in the Gemara this is a new Mishnah): a person may donate wine as an offering in its own right - a wine libation alone, without fine flour, without oil and without an animal. The basis for this is an additional verse stated regarding the libations that accompany the olah and shelamim offerings. That verse seems superfluous, since the law is already known, and it comes to teach that these libations may be brought on their own - to bring wine by itself, a simple wine libation - provided that it is done "kachah", in the same manner in which wine is brought when it serves as a libation accompanying an olah or a shelamim.
The quantity of wine accompanying the olah and shelamim depends on the type of animal, just as the quantity of fine flour depends on it, and the measure of oil is the same as the measure of wine. A hin is twelve lugin, and from here:
A bull - half a hin, which is six lugin.
A ram - a third of a hin, which is four lugin.
A ewe or a goat - a quarter of a hin, which is three lugin.
It emerges that every libation is three, four or six lugin. Therefore one who donates wine on its own may bring only these measures or combinations of them, and he cannot bring one log, two or five - because he must replicate the manner in which wine libations are performed, and there is no libation of one log, two or five. Six is a bull or two sheep, seven is a sheep and a ram, and from there on one can reach any number, except for one, two and five.
And so the Mishnah states: "Ein misnadvin log, shnayim vachamishah" - a person cannot pledge one log, two logim, or five logim; "umisnadvin sheloshah v'arba'ah v'shishah, umishishah ulemalah" - these are the amounts in which a person may pledge wine.
How was the libation actually performed?
A person would bring the wine in the required quantity, add salt to it - adding salt is obligatory - and pour it at the southwestern corner of the altar. Two bowls were set there: one for water, for the water libation on Sukkos (the water drawn at the Simchas Beis HaSho'evah), and the second a silver bowl into which the wine was poured. From the bowl the wine descended into the shisin, the cavity beneath the altar. Such is the law.
To summarize: In this Mishnah we learned the limit of sixty esronim for an individual's minchah. The Tanna Kamma derives it from the community, which brings sixty-one esronim on the first day of Sukkos that falls on Shabbos, and it is enough for the individual to be one less than the community. Rabbi Shimon, however - and the halachah follows his view - derives it from the law of mixing: up to sixty one can mix properly and no more, just as the Sages fixed forty se'ah for a mikvah, and this measure is a Torah measure. In the second part of the Mishnah we learned the law of the wine libation, which stands on its own: that one does not pledge one log, two, or five, but rather three, four, six, and from six and upward, in accordance with the measures of the libations that accompany the offerings.